The Associated Press
Sarasota Herald-Tribune reporter Paige St. John (left) laughs as Matt Doig shows her news of the Pulitzer Prize winners Monday in the Herald-Tribune newsroom. St. John was awarded the Pulitzer for investigative reporting for her examination of the property insurance system for Florida homeowners, which led to regulatory action.

Mike Lang

I was delighted to see reporter Paige St. John of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune win the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting.

The Pulitzer citation commended St. John "for her examination of weaknesses in the murky property-insurance system vital to Florida homeowners, providing handy data to assess insurer reliability and stirring regulatory action."

The award reaffirmed my belief that Florida is an unusually good newspaper state.

Over the years, the state's biggest newspapers, such as The St. Petersburg Times and The Miami Herald, have set a high bar for quality journalism that other Florida newspapers, including small ones, try to clear.

I believe a tradition of good newspapers also influences local television and radio news.

Of course, Florida may be one of the most corrupt states in the union — making it a happy hunting ground for investigative reporters. A couple of years ago, the U.S. Department of Justice reported that Florida topped every other state in convictions of local, state and federal officials.

Other good newspaper states include California and North Carolina. Someday I'll tell you about the bad newspaper states. There are a lot of them. Some have almost as much corruption as Florida.

This was the first Pulitzer, the esteemed recognition for excellence in journalism, ever awarded to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, but it was the third time in four years the newspaper was a finalist. So the news staff there is doing something right.

Two staffers with ProPublica, an online news provider that specializes in heavy-duty reporting, won the National Reporting Pulitzer for exposing questionable practices on Wall Street that contributed to our country's economic meltdown. This award shows the growing importance of online journalism.

Back to the Pulitzer awarded to St. John of the Herald-Tribune, owned by The New York Times Co. The results of her two-year investigation are relevant to all Florida homeowners, including those of us on the Treasure Coast.

She found that the $10 billion insurance market on which Floridians rely is rigged against them. Record insurance rate increases over six years were driven by lies and misinformation put forth by an industry that operates in secret and with little government oversight.

St. John's series, "Florida's Insurance Nightmare," earlier won awards in the Scripps Howard, National Headliner and Investigative Reporters and Editors competitions.

St. John joined the Herald-Tribune in 2008 as an investigative reporter after serving as Florida statehouse bureau chief for the Gannett News Service and as a reporter for The Detroit News and the Associated Press in Traverse City, Mich. She lives in Florida with her husband and a daughter.

Newspapers are having their problems. But many of them are still doing good work in spite of staff cutbacks. I congratulate Paige St. John.

May the Herald-Tribune or another Florida newspaper — or two Florida newspapers — or three! — win a Pulitzer in 2012.